Best Taiwanese fantasy movies

Ye Xiang Lun, a talented piano player is a new student at the prestigious Tamkang School. On his first day, he meets Lu Xiao Yu, a pretty girl playing a mysterious piece of music.

A one-armed martial arts master is being stalked by an Imperial assassin, the master of two fighters killed in the previous film. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lay low are unsuccessful, and the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates: a Thai boxer, a yoga master, and a kobojutsu user.

Ah Lun, who has a choice to make in the underworld, decides to be a god of love in Chinese mythology. As he advances with his tasks on Earth, his biggest challenge is to tie a red string with the woman he loves the most.

High schoolers Momo and Okarun, who debate about ghosts and aliens, investigate paranormal sites, encountering supernatural forces while awaking hidden powers to face the unknown. Theatrical event featuring the first three episodes of DAN DA DAN, and an exclusive interview with Yukinobu Tatsu and Shihei Lin, the author and editor of the original manga, Fuga Yamashiro (Director), and Shion Wakayama (voice of Momo) and Natsuki Hanae (voice of Okarun).

An idealistic cop joins an underground police unit and battles ghoulish forces threatening the balance between the human and the supernatural realms.

There was once a young girl named May who felt alienated from everyone around her. May is worried about her mother and father, whose marriage is on the rocks, and she yearns to return to the woods where her grandfather lives. One day, May befriends a boy as lonely as she is. When reality catches up, they run away to a beautiful world that belongs only to them. Both imaginatively escapist and heartbreakingly realistic, their journey speaks to kids and adults alike with the pain of solitude, the sorrow of loss, and the warmth of hope.

A traveling scholar, intent on translating a Buddhist sutra that is said to have power over the creatures of the afterlife. He slowly finds himself entangled in a mysterious plot involving witchcraft, demons, and a battle to preserve his own soul from the attacks of the supernatural underworld.

In 2009, 28-year-old Li Zi Wei and 17-year-old Huang Yu Xuan met each other. These are two innocent and unaffected lives that could each feel like marks from their past and present lives. However, they could not find sufficient proof to fill up the emptiness at the bottom of their hearts. An accident let them fall into another Mobius loop that had already happened countless times. Only then did they realize that in different times and spaces, they once had a deep, true love that had passed through countless timelines to search for each other with no regrets. But in that story, their deepest love came at the highest price. If they could start again, would they choose to meet by chance in ordinary life or be scarred by the memories etched in their heart and bones? Or perhaps they can choose to hurt and love all over again, betting on a different ending?

College freshman Si-ying gets a part-time job at “Cafe. Waiting. Love” coffee shop, where she befriends Abusi, a tomboyish barista who can make any coffee the customers request, the beautiful and mysterious cafe owner, and Zeyu, the boy who always sits in the same spot in the cafe who seems to be very popular with girls and on whom Si-ying develops an instant crush.

Xiao Chi, a driven girl who's been looking for love, gets asked out by a hot guy on the eve of Valentine's Day. As she anticipates her first date, she wakes up the next morning and finds that the Valentine's Day has mysteriously passed.

An unauthorized live-action adaptation of the Dragon Ball manga, it follows a band of misfit adventurers trying to stop King Horn and his goal to collect all seven Dragon Balls, and his wish of ultimate power.

The main character of little girl in the story confronts a robbery and strays from the road she is familiar with. After passing a hedge, she enters an unknown world and unfolds a magical adventure depending on senses other than vision and her imagination. With soft and cute colors as the main key, we used simple designs to depict the little girls' imaginary world.

In the northwest desert where countless prosperous dynasties have flourished and fallen, there is rumor of a treasure of unbelievable riches buried among it. A group of mysterious guardians have been guarding the map to the location of the treasure until a fierce rivalry erupted. A notorious international crime group, The Company hunted down the map keeper and before they managed to secure the map, the keeper passed the map to a young chivalrous man Ciao Fei. Ciao Fei was forced to give up the map to save the live of his mentor’s daughter Lan Ting. Teaming up with Hua Ding Bang and Lan Ting they embark on a dangerous journey to recover the map and fight to protect the ancient treasure.

The plot centres around Wu Tang villain, Abbot White, who wants to destroy the Shaolin monks and become supreme martial artist. In order to do so, he teams up with a clan of Ninjas, led by three masters – gold lamé ninja, white mustachioed ninja and black ninja – and succeeds in destroying the Shaolin temple and most of its inhabitants. However, there are some survivors. It is their job to pass on the knowledge of the Shaolin finger jab to a new generation, who must defeat the ninjas and Abbott White if peace and order is to be restored.

Moving story about a lonely man who finds solace and company in his pet fish.

In Taiwan pornography is still a socially unacceptable taboo. Firmly and ironically, Su Hui-yu indulges in a visually powerful long shot enhanced by unexpected pop art colours. A classic hardcore esthetic is represented in a gallery of a tableaux vivants that demand their freedom, alternating movement and immobility, the denial of pleasure and the pursuit of it.

Short animation by Holly Lo

In vacation with his girlfriend and his son, a father has to face an uncontrolled jealousy for the young boy.

The daughter of a queen and a comet is abandoned by her family. One day, she comes across a prince fighting a multi-headed dragon and falls in love with him. However, some wizards try everything to keep them apart.

A-Gu enlists a group of contract killers in the disguise of laundry service. One of them, code-named "No.1 Qingtian Street", is haunted by the ghosts of his victims. He seeks help from Lin Hsiang, a psychic.

A 5-year-old kid moves to stay with his grandma in a small town in Taiwan. Soon after, he discovers that not only is his grandma a food vendor, but she's also good at catching spectres. One day, he accidentally releases the most ferocious ghost, who sets loose the others...

More than just naughty, they play tricks on classmates, tease girls at school, fight with other boys, and lie to everyone until their teacher breaks down. They are named Liar No. 1 and Liar No. 2. The most important act planned in their life is to go to the mysterious water park, where they can leap through the portal at the end of the water slide to the fairy-tale world OZ and live as grown-ups happily ever after. However, the commitment is torn by a careless betrayal.

Peach Kid joins his friends to rescue the princess from the Devil's Apple King of Monster Island.

Directed by some of most well known Chinese-language directors of the time, the portmanteau film Four Moods was an attempt to alleviate Li Han-hsiang’s financial troubles during the late 1960s. Arguably one of his best works, King Hu’s short Anger is an adaptation of the famous Peking opera San Cha Kou; set to opera instrumentation and stylishly shot, the film deftly captures the tense showdown between political schemers, avengers and vagabonds inside an inn. Li Han-hsiang’s Happiness, inspired by the Strange Tales of Liaozhai, tells a tale of reprieve for a kind-hearted ghost, while Pai Ching-Jui’s Joy and Lee Hsing’s Sadness both explore the fateful encounters between mortal men and ghostly women.

A man falls in love with a control freak. He willingly obeys and gives his all during the infatuation stage of love. However, when another girl appears, he realizes that love can actually be liberating. In a dream, he is granted a wish for the exchange of girlfriends, and to his astonishment, the wish comes true in real life. Is this the beginning of happiness or the onset of new terror?

This early Brigitte Lin film is based on the same Chinese folk tale that Tsui Hark later used as his source for The Green Snake. It is the story of two sister snakes that want to feel what it is to be human and one of them needs to know what it is to feel human love. It is a sweet magical but ultimately tragic tale of breaking societal taboos. - brns.com

An evil wizard finds King Solomon's magic lantern, but Solomon's curse prevents him from taking it - only someone born the same month, same day and same hour as Solomon can take it. That someone is Ali Baba, a poor, kind-hearted lad who lives with his brother, Ali Mama (Eric Tsang). When Ali Baba sees the 40 thieves enter their hideout and learns the ritual needed for entrance, he steals some gold and jewels. The 40 find out and capture Ali Baba, but he is saved by the evil wizard and taken to retrieve the magic lantern. Ali Baba releases the genie...and you know the story. It all culminates in a chase, the wizard on a flying horse and Ali Baba on his flying carpet.

Xie Junya is a teenage girl who possesses the innate ability to see the dead, a problem that has troubled her for a long time. She sought help at a temple, but the problem was not solved. Instead, many devotees gather to ask her questions about their deceased loved ones and even winning lottery numbers. Her work as a psychic leaves her with no time to practice baseball. What she really cares about is whether a guy in her school’s baseball team likes her. The boy she has a crush on invites Junya to his birthday party. However, there is a long line of people waiting at the temple for her advice. How will she choose between love and her sacred mission?

A Taoist priest makes his living as a corpse and vampire wrangler. As a pet he keeps a baby vampire who helps him with his work. An evil sorcerer from Spear Mountain needs the little bloodsucker to further his corpse stealing plans. The battle lines are drawn as to who will dominate the underworld!

In a world inhabited by cool puppets, brave heroes fight to prevent magic swords from falling into the wrong hands. Stylishly choreographed duels, double-crossings, mystical powers, and cool one-liners…

The story begins when Tiarn Tiarn is about to be born. Her father was fighting the demon who has stolen lots of children. Her mother is killed and her father has taken up the fight. Years later, trying, now an adolescent, Tiarn Tiarn and her grandfather battle the demon and try to free her still, demon-possessed father.

In artist Su Hui-yu’s signature style, a moody slow-motion pan captures a wild, glitter-scattered, blood-splattered orgy during the Tang dynasty. The film is an invocation of scenes from 1985 Taiwanese cult film Tang Chao Chi Li that only existed in the screenplay, unfilmed until now due to what can only be imagined as budgetary restrictions and censorship pressures during the Martial Law era. Presented without narrative context, the orgiastic murder scene plays out like an unsettling nightmare.

After a nuclear disaster, the world has gone dystopian. Many people have undergone physical mutation, and therefore are cut off government supplies. A female mutant robs the provisions of a military officer with a strong sense of justice. His chase ends in a rundown, gaudy amusement park. Just when the girl is about to be arrested, she discovers a top secret. The division between normal and abnormal should not be a raison d'être.

A gang of tough swordswomen take over a fort in a small city. These women terrorise everyone, killing indiscriminately. Two heroes, one clad in white, one in black, are sought out by an aging hero and brought in to fight the swordswomen.

All the CHEN family want is a quiet life but as daughter Lucy's behavior changes from strange to violent, they are forced to confront dark secrets they have hidden for years. One by one, their desperate poverty, the mother's rape and the father's revenge by murder return to haunt them...until a searing TRUTH no one knew is revealed. Will this truth give them a second chance to right the wrongs in their lives or destroy them all?

Being a mortuary cosmetologist, Min-Hsiu is used to seeing dead bodies until she accidentally spots a female corpse – her high school teacher Miss Chen Ting. Nie Cheng-Fu, Chen Ting’s husband, loves his wife profoundly and tries to find more memories of her with Min-Hsiu’s help. At that point, a detective, Kuo Yung-Ming, senses that the truth behind this case may not be as simple as it seems. Death is not the end of life, but another beginning of it...

The martial artist Su Hua-Jen has risked his life clambering to the summit of one of the five sacred mountains of Wu Lin, only to come across two monstrous beings in battle. His timely intervention turns the tide of the fight, and unbeknownst to him, sets in motion a series of monumentally consequential events. Back in the city, Su has a more mundane problem to face—an enormous debt with the local book lender. To pay this off, he must peddle his remarkable skills as a physician. While Su would prefer to steer clear of the affairs of the martial arts world, a request from the Lord of Globe Castle is financially promising—and might gain him access to the Fantastic Academy, where he can feast his eyes on the Limitless Celestial Book. But treachery is afoot, and Su is soon drawn into a crisis that will rock the foundations of Heaven and Earth.

Little Death, child of The Grim Reaper, have problems to follow the steps of his infamous father.

There's a one thousand year old Ginseng running around in the woods, and everyone is after it, including a boy with a sick mother, a beauty and her kung fu warriors, and the Three-Head Monster. Who will eat the Ginseng and gain its mystical powers?

A young woman, Sin Yun, dates Wu Tian - a gangster. He drugs her and has intercourse, then turns her over to his gang. When she resists, they beat her to death and dump her body in Lake Tian. Her spirit returns to haunt Wu Tian. The ghost also contacts her sister and enters the body of another young woman who has been killed.

A red haired martial arts special constable is deployed by the Manchus to round up all the Ming loyalists and eliminate them. The 7 men of Kung Fu prove to be too powerful for him and his posse of fighters and zombies.

The Taiwanese jump into the tokusatsu market with this tale of an evil scientist turning people into creatures to do his bidding. Adults are hard to control so he lures a group of boys to his lab. He doesn't quite have the hang of it and after several failures gets it working properly on Hsiao Po. The process is interrupted when Hsiao Wen takes a piss on the control panel. The boys escape and the process is eventually completed by the evil scientist's good brother, and we have our superhero. What follows is a group sing-a-long at an amusement park, motorcycle chases and fights between our hero and lots of bad guys in ridiculous costumes.

Dodo is indulged in collecting and wearing beautiful high heels until she encounters an accident and loses her legs.

The Four Brothers of Huan Nan is a charismatic gang known for its vibrant presence. Amid the bustle of Taipei's traditional food market, two of the youths face familial opposition to their forbidden love, while the only female member grapples with her unspoken feelings for the enigmatic fourth member.

Through a famous painting "South Street Festival", a Taiwanese college boy unexpectedly travels 100 years back in time, back to the 1920's, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. He is stuck, he panics, he wants to return to 2014 but soon changes his mind, not just because of the prettiest geisha girl in town...

A woman who has been brought up among wolves, and that in infancy to the age-old ginseng root, take revenge on the Red Devil, who ordered the murder of her parents.

Peach Boy and his mother live in a village. One day, there is a young man that suddenly comes to the village and asks Peach Boy to be his teacher because. At the same time, the elder of the devil palace wants to set Peach Boy to the deathtrap. They grasp children in order to have better martial arts skills. Peach Boy becomes righteous and indignant, he decides to exorcise the demons, but unexpectedly, his mother is killed by the devil. The battle between Peach Boy and the devil is unavoidable... (taken from the VCD release)

A ruthless warlord is using his poisonous palm to kill Ming Patriots, and only the Kung Fu Phantom (Wong Tao) has a chance of ending his reign of terror.

In order to avenge her father's murder, Hsiang Ying trains herself in the deadliest form of swordplay. Her only goal - to kill all of her father's vicious killers. From hand-to-hand combat to uniquely choreographed weapon fights, Revengeful Swordswoman will have kung fu fans wanting more.

In the not-too distant future, 17 year-old Tye and his family move to the burgeoning metropolis of Real City, where, bored with classes, he spends his time daydreaming until one day he finds a magic stone that allows him to pass through walls. On a field trip to a museum, Tye meets NoNo, a deaf girl with bionic ears who is working as a museum docent. The two grow closer, until Tye discovers she has a boyfriend and demands she chooses between them. NoNo tells him to come and see her again in twenty years and then disappears from his life, leaving him only with a photo of her in front of a signpost saying Elsewhere. Tye uses the magic stone to go to Elsewhere, but he discovers a desolate world full of discarded things, among them an attractive blind girl, Ya-hung. Two worlds, two realities, two girls, what will Tye’s choice be ?

On a full moon night, a ten-year-old girl from a farming family in a remote village is lured by Moosina into a cave in the mountains, where she uncovers the secret about why the mountain demon always plays dirty tricks on children.

This is not a story about a loving grandmother.

A young woman of considerable social standing receives a curse from a black magician that causes her her head to detach from her body and attack anyone in sight. A good wizard is able to limit the effects of the curse to effect her only on the 15th of each month, but when she falls in love, things get complicated.

Silver Maid, a young girl, becomes caught up in the struggle between two warring sects, the Red Devils and the Black Devils. At the same time, she is on a quest to find the Fairy Fungus, which is the only means of curing her ailing grandfather. Getting it requires that she defeat a quintet of vermin-based fighters known as the Five Poisonous Creatures, who include among their number a giant puppet snake. This accomplished, everyone sets off in search of a magical superweapon called the Sacred Tooth.

As Meng, master of Patience School prepares to announce his successor, a rival swordsman named Dare Devil kills him. Although their skills are no match, the school’s students vow to get revenge.

The happy lives of animals in the forest are stirred by the sudden attack of a pack of wolves. Uncle Deer comes to the rescue, and asks Birdy to notify his son, the Deer Warrior. Deer and his rival, Sika Deer fight for the love of Miss Deer while Foxy mingles with the leader of the wolves, desiring to be the prettiest in the land. A truly bizarre family (?) film from critic and pioneer Chang Ying.

Combining ancient designs discovered on the Silk Road, and an enigmatic natural power called the Origin, Zhang Meng created Arti-C, a powerful mechanical man made of wood and metal. Having stirred up fears, he was accused of treason and slain — but not before entrusting the Arti to his son Mo, who controls the wooden robot, and his daughter Tong, a cocky swordswoman. The siblings, now grown, pursue a perilous quest across the desert in search of the legendary city of Loulan, where they hope to find the Origin at its source. However, with ambitious royal schemes afoot and a mysterious tribe guarding the Origin, the Zhangs’ goal will not be easy to achieve. In the battle to come, are they even on the right side?

Shaolin temples thousands of years ago were famous for their kung fu schools, and everybody has come to relate these temples with kung fu. Even the best fighters in the world didn't dare challenge the Shaolin students. During the Ching Dynasty, the reigning government had total control of the Shaolin temples and schools. The monk Chi Kong wasn't a real monk. In fact he was evil. He even accepted girls as students. He taught these girls the kung fu style. There were eighteen of them...

Based loosely on the Monkey King legend, but set before he was sent to languish under a mountain for 500 years. The movie mainly focuses on two kids, a young Piggie (played by a fat kid with quite good makeup and a deadly fart weapon) and a young martial art master whose identity I didn't quite recognise. They get caught up in the affairs of The Dragon Princess Of The West Sea who rebels against her father by refusing to marry the Dragon Prince of The East Sea (or something like that!), and along with the Monkey King they have to fight various "fairies" (immortals) to ensure that justice is done.

When she helplessly falls in love with her mortal enemy, the beautiful yet cursed fox spirit known as Snow Lady causes her mother much trepidation. To make matters worse, a ruthless tracker emerges and threatens to alter her fate. Darkly comical and hauntingly stylish, this magical gothic tale from Hong Kong also features performances from Wai Yiu and director Ma Wu.

Do Over follows five characters over twenty four hours on the last day of the year. As the interrelated stories proceed, the connections between the lives of the five characters begin to reveal themselves and their stories unravel. By depicting five different characters at emotional crossroads, Do Over examines the struggle of overcoming our greatest fears; the unknown of what lies ahead in the future, the fading value of our existence in the present, and most of all, irreversible mistakes made in the past that may catch up to us.

A research lab has developed "The Formula", a box that allows living organic material to grow hundreds of times its original size. Criminals invade the lab to steal it, but it's thrown off the side of the road. There it's found by a girl who decides it will be the perfect home for Mosler, the snake she has adopted. Mosler immediately outgrows the box, springing to the ground like a pile of novelty dog poo. Gang members see the girl and her huge snake frolicking outside and put two and two together. Mosler thwarts their first attempt to snatch her, but when they do succeed he goes on a rampage trying to find his friend

The story revolves around three nasty villains' quest to retrieve the Seven Star Armor which will enable them to retrieve the sacred sword from a Taoist monastery.

A demonmaster tries to defeat a young priestess who induces archetypal forces in the Chinese zodiac, the twelve animals in the form of her companions. There are monsters, spells, kung fu, and costumes galore for those who appreciate this sort of thing

After taking on an entire army to avenge the murder of his master, a tenacious kung fu swordsman (Tang Wei) is forced out of retirement to fight again.

Five men venture into a hidden cave to find a treasure map. After they have encountered the dangers of the cave (body melting acid, a flying mini-dragon, living skeletons...), the two last survivors finally find the treasure map inside a golden Buddha. One of them falls into a pit and the other gets caught by ninjas as he tries to escape with the map while the cave explodes. After escaping from the ninjas, he meets a princess to learn the imperial sword technique in order to defeat the devil!